Download Brevard Zoo Discovery Stations

Brevard Zoo Discovery Stations - Adaptations
Topics
Animals Adapting to
Changing Seasons
Animals Adapting to
Their Habitat
Animals Adapting to
Other Environmental
Changes
N.G.S.S.S.
Science
SC.3.L.17.1
SC.4.L.16.2
SC.5.L.15.1
SC.5.L.17.1
C.C.S.S.
LACC.K12.R.1.1
LACC.K12.W.1.1
Overview
What do animals do when it is too hot or too cold outside? How do they
survive changes to their environment? Through participation in our
Discovery Stations and pre-/post activities, students will develop an
understanding of animals and their adaptations for survival.
Objectives
Students will classify forest animals by the adaptations needed to survive
the changing seasons.
Teacher Background Information
Animals have many adaptations for increasing their chances of survival.
Adaptations are any change in behaviors, structures, or physiology that
enhances reproductive success in a particular environment. Adaptations
can help us to understand animals. The flat molars of deer, for example,
tell us that it is a plant-eater, or herbivore.
Structural adaptations are physical parts of the body that increase an
animal’s chances for survival. The toucan, for example, has a beak that is
adapted to plucking fruit from the rainforest canopy. The giraffe’s long
neck enables it to eat leaves at the tops of trees that are inaccessible to
other animals. Flying squirrels have skin flaps from wrist to ankle that work
like sails, enabling them to glide from tree to tree.
LACC.K12.W.1.3
Adaptations can also be behavioral. Behavior is a response to the
environment. Behavior influences growth, development, maintenance, and reproduction. For
example, many birds puff up their feathers while sleeping so than an
attacking predator may only end up with a mouthful of feathers.
Teacher tip!
Opossums actually pass out with fright when approached by a
predator. This act of “playing dead” often causes predators to lose
Animals that are
interest.
italicized can be
Adaptation often occurs as a result of mutation and/or natural
selection. Mutation is a sudden random change in the genetic
material of a cell that may cause it and all cells derived from it to
differ in appearance or behavior from the normal type. Natural
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940
found at the zoo!
Actual encounter
may vary and is not
guaranteed.
321.254.9453 x 219
selection is the process by which some genes and gene combinations in a population of species
are reproduced more than others or when the population is exposed to an environmental
change or stress. In this way, individual organisms are replaced by individuals whose genetic
traits allow them to better cope with the change or stress. These better-adapted individuals
then reproduce and pass their traits on to their offspring.
People can have an effect on animal adaptation as well. One example is the peppered moth.
During a time of industrial pollution, the peppered moth, with genetic traits that led to a darker
appearance, survived while those in lighter appearance died off or migrated to a new location.
Once the pollution was controlled and cleaned, the moth, whose traits produced a lighter
camouflage, rebounded.
Pre-Activity
Vocabulary - See Appendix
Overview
Students will classify animals by their adaptations to survive during
the changing seasons.
Materials Needed
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adaptation
Behavioral Adaptation
Physical Adaptation
Migration
Hibernation
Camouflage
• Pictures of mountain hare, lynx, bear, Canadian geese, elk,
dormouse (*while images are provided, an internet search
will provide better quality)
• Dry-erase markers, eraser, whiteboard
or if accessible, Doc-cam and projector
Procedure
1. Introduce/Review the different types of adaptations, physical and behavioral.
2. On the whiteboard create a Tree Map for classifying. For the category name write:
Adaptations. Then create two sub categories: Physical and Behavioral. Under the
physical subcategory write camouflage. Under the behavioral subcategory write
migration and hibernation.
3. Ask the students what they know about the three labels: hibernation, migration, and
camouflage. Then go through each picture, and together with the students, analyze
what adaptation(s) this animal may exhibit in order to survive a winter.
4. Classify each picture accordingly: Mountain Hare and Lynx – Camouflage; Bear and
Dormouse- Hibernating; Canadian Geese and Elk- Migrating.
2
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
www.brevardzoo.org
5. You may extend the activity by allowing the students to analyze other animals, such as
frogs, turtles, fish, snakes, tortoise (hibernating/dormancy); monarch butterfly, cranes,
whales, manatees (migrating); arctic fox, birds- ducks, warblers, (change in camouflage).
Online Resources
•
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/animals.html
•
http://www.planet-science.com/categories/under-11s/our-world/2011/10/what-do-animalsdo-in-winter.aspx
•
http://www.techapps.net/interactives/pepperMoths.swf
•
http://books.google.com/books/about/How_Do_Animals_Adapt.html?id=oFVb2LP-1yQC
Other Resources
How Do Animals Adapt? The Science of Living Things Series. Bobbie Kalman. Crabtree Publishing
Company, 2000.
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940
321.254.9453 x 219
Pre-Activity Images – Found through Google Images
Mountain Hare in the spring
Mountain Hare in the winter
4
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
www.brevardzoo.org
Lynx in the summer
Lynx in the winter
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940
321.254.9453 x 219
Grizzly Bear
Dormouse
6
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
www.brevardzoo.org
Canadian Geese
Elk
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940
321.254.9453 x 219
Peppered Moths
8
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
www.brevardzoo.org
Appendix- Vocabulary
1. Adaptation- any change in an animal’s behavior, structure or physiology that enhances
reproductive success in its environment.
2. Behavioral adaptation- a response to the environment that influences growth,
development, maintenance, and reproduction.
3. Physical adaptation- a changing physical characteristic that enables its survival in a
particular environment.
4. Migration- the animal behavior of traveling long distances to find a new habitat that
allows for its survival.
5. Hibernation- the animal behavior of entering a sleep-like state, to conserve energy and
survive the harsh elements of winter.
6. Camouflage- a physical adaptation that conceals an animal in its environment
7. Natural selection- process by which some genes and gene combinations in a population
of a species are reproduced more than others when the population is exposed to an
environmental change or stress. In this way, individual organisms are replaced by
individuals whose genetic traits allow them to better cope with the change or stress.
These traits are then passed on their offspring.
Brevard Zoo - Discovery Stations
8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940
321.254.9453 x 219